Development of solar powered automated fertigation controller for rock melon cultivation in natural ventilated green house

Abstract

Production of vegetables and fruits in Malaysia using fertigation method been experiencing accelerated growth. Fertigation allow farmers to automatically deliver adequate nutrient quantity and concentration through drip irrigation to plants active root area through the growing season. Conventionally, three separates preset digital timers are used to turn ON/OFF injector and irrigation pumps for fertilizer mixing and setting daily frequency of irrigation. The quality of nutrients solution level is manually check using Electrical Conductivity (EC) meter to determine quality of the nutrient solution. This project was developed and tested to provide low cost solution for precise control of fertilizer mixing and irrigation to local farmers. A predefined EC value will be used as single input that control all automated processes in cucumis melo .L cultivation using fertigation system. The develop system powered totally by solar power system were tested to whether can effectively control the nutrient mixing process and injecting nutrient solutions according to plants growth rate and in the same time monitor all key parameters in fertigation system.